There is a long shelf of worthy and well-researched books about Rodgers and Hammerstein and the Broadway musical, and many of them are cited in the bibliography. But two authors must be singled out: Steven Suskin, whose meticulously documented book on Broadway orchestrators, and pair of compilation volumes of opening night reviews, were a constant source of reliable data; and Ethan Mordden, whose studies of Rodgers and Hammerstein and the Broadway musical are authoritative, quirky, opinionated, and always alive. I owe both of them a great deal, as I also do Geoffrey Block, Hugh Fordin, Frederick Nolan, and Meryle Secrest—the pathbreaking biographers of Rodgers and Hammerstein, to whom all subsequent scholars are in debt.
Paige Andrews, Betsey Apple, Scott Berg, Tony Bill, Frank Clines, Tiki Davies, Janet Elder, Linda Greenhouse, Mark Halperin, Betsy Kolbert, Alison Mitchell, Adam Nagourney, Martin Nolan, Carol Phethean, David Sagal, Lee Satterfield and Patrick Steel, Allen Sviridoff, Jim Warren, Steve Weisman, Max Woodward, JoAnn Young, and the late Rosemary Clooney, George Furth, Marvin Hamlisch, and Eden Ross Lipson all helped along the way. I’m especially grateful to Andrea Stevens, Connie Rosenblum, Marty Gottlieb, and other former colleagues and editors at the New York Times for allowing me to moonlight from my career as a political reporter by writing about Broadway and Hollywood—and Rodgers and Hammerstein—from time to time. They could not have known it, but they were planting a seed, because that work gave me the chance to interview Mary Rodgers and James Hammerstein, for which I’ll always be grateful.
When I was a boy, our house was filled with Playbills and original Broadway cast albums. This was in no small part because my uncle Ralph Stanley Purdum had journeyed all the way from Macomb, Illinois, to 145 West 44th Street in Manhattan, where he plied his trade as an actor in plays, films, and commercials. In the early 1960s, my parents went to see him—and eight shows a week—bringing home the proof. How I wish I had queried him more when he uttered a sentence like: “When I was walking down Fifth Avenue with Van Johnson…” How I wish, also, that I had asked him more about his time paying the bills by working as Jules Glaenzer’s assistant at Cartier, where his celebrity clients included Ellin Berlin and Grace Kelly. And how I wish I’d asked him about his out-of-town castmates, including Temple Texas.
The first professional musical I saw was a touring company of Mame, starring Celeste Holm, in Chicago in 1968, when I was just eight years old and getting my first long dress pants. As we stood in the forecourt of the Shubert Theatre, I noticed the publicity pictures, and whined to my parents: “Oh, no! It’s in black and white?” Au contraire, they assured me, it was live and in color, with real people on the stage. So it was, and from “Open a New Window” on I was hooked. For that and so much else, I have Connie and the late Jerry Purdum to thank. This book is for them, too.
INDEX
The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your e-book. Please use the search function on your e-reading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
Abbott, George
Academy Awards
Adams, Edie
Adler, Buddy
Adler, Richard
African Americans
Albert, Eddie
Alda, Robert
“Alexander’s Ragtime Band”
All About Eve (film)
Allegro
cast and creative team
critics on
failure of
finances and
Hammerstein on
Logan on
opening night
Rodgers on
Sondheim on
South Pacific and
touring company
TV adaptation
written
Allen, Elizabeth
“All the Things You Are”
Allyson, June
Alton, Robert
Always You
American Ballet Caravan
American Committee for the Protection of Foreign Born
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)
America’s Sweetheart
Anderson, Elaine
Anderson, Maxwell
André Charlot’s Review of 1924
Andrews, Dana
Andrews, Julie
Androcles and the Lion
Anna and the King of Siam (film). See also The King and I
Anna and the King of Siam (Landon novel)
Annie
Annie Get Your Gun (Berlin)
Berlin writes lyrics and music
conceived
critics on
Martin and
opening night
revivals
royalties and
success of
touring company
TV version
“Annie McGinnis Pavlova”
Ann-Margret
Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith
anti-Semitism
“Any Old Place with You”
Anyone Can Whistle
Anything Goes
“Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better”
Appointment in Samarra (O’Hara)
Arlen, Harold
Arnaz, Desi
Arsenic and Old Lace (Kesselring)
“Art and Mass Media” (Hammerstein)
Asian Americans
Astaire, Fred
Atkinson, Brooks
“Au Clair de la Lune”
“Auld Lang Syne”
Authors Guild
Authors League
“Auto Show Girl, The”
“Away from You”
Awe, Jim
Axelrod, Herman
Ayers, Lemuel
Ayres, Lew
Babes in Arms
Bacall, Lauren
Bacharach, Burt
Bainter, Fay
Baker, Belle
Balanchine, George
“Bali Ha’i”
Ball, Lucille
Ballard, Kaye
Ballard, Lucinda
Ball at the Savoy
Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo
Baltimore Sun
Bancroft, Anne
Barber of Seville, The (Rossini)
Barnes, Clive
Barnes, Howard
Battelle, Kenneth
Battles, John
Bayes, Nora
Bean, Jack
Beane, Douglas Carter
Beatles
Beethoven, Ludwig van
Behrman, Sam
Belmont, Alan H.
Bemelmans, Ludwig
“Bench Scene, The”
Bender, Milton
Benét, Stephen Vincent
Bennett, Michael
Bennett, Robert Russell
Benson, Sally
Bergman, Ingrid
Berlin, Irving
Berlin, Mary Ellin
Berman, Pandro
Bernstein, Leonard
Best Foot Forward
Betsy
“Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered”
Bigley, Isabel
Bigman, Rose
Big Parade, The (film)
Bikel, Theodore
Billboard charts
Bishop, André
Bizet, Georges
blacklist
Blackton, Jay
Blair, Janet
Blanchard, Susan
Blane, Ralph
Blitzstein, Marc
“Blue Room”
“Blue Skies”
Blyden, Larry
Bock, Jerry
“Body and Soul”
Bolger, Ray
Bolton, Guy
Boone, Pat
Boston Herald
Boston Post
Bowers, Dwight
Boyer, Charles
Boy Friend, The (Wilson)
“Boys and Girls Like You and Me”
Brackett, Charles
Bradley, B
ill
Brahms, Johannes
Brando, Marlon
Brazzi, Lydia
Brazzi, Rossano
Brice, Fanny
Brill, Leighton
British Royal National Theatre
Brooks, Van Wyck
Brown, John Mason
Brownell, Herbert
Brubeck, Dave
Bryant, Glenn
Brynner, Yul
Buck, Pearl
Buloff, Joseph
Burning Bright (Steinbeck)
Burton, Richard
Bus Stop (film)
BUtterfield 8 (O’Hara)
Buttons, Red
By Jupiter
Byram, John
Byron, George Gordon, Lord
Cahn, Sammy
Caldwell, Erskine
California Senate Subcommittee on Un-American Activities
Call Me Madam
Camelot
Canby, Vincent
Cannery Row (Steinbeck)
“Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man”
Capote, Truman
“Carefully Taught”
Carlisle, Kitty
Carmen (Bizet)
Carmen Jones
copyright
written
Carmichael, Hoagy
Carousel
adaptation of Liliom proposed
cast and creative team
critics on
finances and
Hammerstein writes book and lyrics
Molnár on
opening night
out-of-town tryouts
rehearsals
revivals
Rittman and
Rodgers on appeal of
Rodgers writes music
Sondheim on
South Pacific vs.
touring company
Carousel (film)
cast
rights
“Carousel Waltz, The”
Carpenter, Constance
Carroll, Diahann
Carson, Jack
Cassidy, Claudia
Catholic Charities
“Cave, The” (Michener)
CBS TV
Cerf, Bennett
Chapin, Ted
Chaplin, Saul
Chapman, John
Chappell & Co.
Charnin, Martin
Chase, Ilka
Chee-Chee
Chekhov, Michael
Chevalier, Maurice
Chicago Tribune
“Childe Harold” (Byron)
Children of Dreams (film)
Chinese Lantern, The
Ching, William
Chocolate Soldier, The (Strauss)
“Chop Suey”
Chorus Line, A
Christians, Mady
Churchill, Winston
Cinderella
Broadway production
created for TV
critics on
interracial version
London production
original cast album
TV remake
written
CinemaScope 55
Cinerama
Civil Rights Congress
civil rights movement
Clark, Marguerite
Clayton, Jan
Cleopatra (film)
Clift, Montgomery
“Climb Ev’ry Mountain”
Clooney, Rosemary
Clurman, Harold
Cochran, Charles
Cochrane, June
“Cockeyed Optimist, A”
Cody, Buffalo Bill
Coffin, Robert P. T.
Cohan, George M.
Cohen, Alexander
Cohen, Harold
Cohen, Irving
Cohn, Harry
Colbert, Claudette
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Records
Columbia University
Law School
Comden, Betty
“Come Home”
Communist Party
Company
Concord Bicycle Music
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, A (musical)
revival
Connelly, Marc
Connery, Sean
Cook, Barbara
Cornell, John
Cornell, Katharine
Cousins, Norman
Coward, Noël
Cradle Will Rock, The
Crain, Jeanne
Crawford, Cheryl
Crawford, Joan
Crichton, Judy
Crist, Judith
Crosby, Bing
Crouse, Anna
Crouse, Lindsay
Crouse, Russel “Buck”
Crouse, Timothy
Crowther, Bosley
“Cuddle Up a Little Closer”
Cue
Cullman, Howard
Curtis Institute
Cypher, Jon
Daffy Dill
Damone, Vic
Dance magazine
“Dancing on the Ceiling”
Dandridge, Dorothy
Danish Yankee at King Tut’s Court, A
Darby, Ken
Darling, Jean
Da Silva, Howard
Davis, Bette
Davis, Ronald
Dawson, Mark
Day, Doris
Dean, James
Dearest Enemy
Decca Records
Delibes, Léo
Dell’Isola, Salvatore
de Mille, Agnes
Allegro and
Carousel and
death of Hammerstein and
Oklahoma! and
on Rodgers
DeMille, Cecil B.
de Mille, William
“Den of Iniquity”
Desert Song, The
Dewey, Thomas E.
Dexter, John
Dickey, Annamary
Die Trapp Familie (film)
Dietrich, Marlene
Dietz, Howard
Disney, Walt
Disneyland
Dixon, Lee
Do I Hear a Waltz?
“Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful?”
“Doin’ What Comes Naturally”
Dolan, Robert Emmett
Dole, Bob
Donehue, Vincent J.
Donen, Stanley
“Don’t Ever Leave Me”
“Don’t Marry Me”
“Do-Re-Mi”
Dorsey, Tommy
Dougan, Terrell
Drake, Alfred
Dramatists Guild
Drewry, Susanna
Dreyfus, Louis
Dreyfus, Max
“Dry Rot” (Michener)
Dubin, Al
Dulles, John Foster
du Maurier, Daphne
Dunne, Irene
Durante, Jimmy
Dvonch, Frederick
Eastwood, Clint
Ebsen, Buddy
“Edelweiss”
Ed Sullivan Show, The
Eisenhower, Dwight D.
Elizabeth II, Queen of England
Emmy Awards
Emperor Jones, The (O’Neill)
English Governess at the Siamese Court, The (Leonowens)
Ephron, Henry
Ephron, Phoebe
Erickson, Lief
Etting, Ruth
Evergreen
Everybody Loves Me
“Everybody’s Got a Home but Me”
“Every Little Movement Has a Meaning All Its Own”
Ewen, David
Fadiman, Clifton
Falkenburg, Jinx
“Farmer and the Cowman, The”
Fearnley, John
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Feiner, Ben
“Fellow Needs a Girl, A”
Fellows, Don
Ferber, Edna
Ferrer, Jose
Feuer, Cy
Fiddler on the Roof
Fields, Dorothy
> Fields, Herbert
Fields, Joseph
Fields, Lew
Fields, W. C.
“Filles de Cadix, Les” (Delibes)
Finn, Myra. See Hammerstein, Myra Finn
Fiorello!
Firefly, The
Fisher, Eddie
Fitelson, H. William
Fleming, Renée
Flower Drum Song (film)
Flower Drum Song, The (Lee novel)
Flower Drum Song (musical)
Andrews on
ballet
cast and creative team
critics on
decision to create
finances and
Hammerstein writes book with Fields
Hwang revival
London production
lyrics
opening night
out-of-town tryouts
rehearsals
rights
Rodgers writes score
title
written
“Flower Garden of My Heart, The”
Flowering Peach, The (Odets)
Fly with Me
“Fo’ Dolla” (Michener)
Follies
Fonda, Henry
Fontanne, Lynn
Forbes, Kathryn
Fordin, Hugh
Foster, Stephen
France
Freaky Friday (Mary Rodgers)
Free for All
Friml, Rudolf
Frissell, Toni
Froman, Jane
From Here to Eternity (film)
Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, A
Furs and Frills
Furth, George
Garde, Betty
Gardner, Ava
Garland, Judy
Garrick Gaieties, The
Gaynor, Janet
Gaynor, Mitzi
“Gentleman Is a Dope, The”
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Loos novel)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (musical)
George VI, King of England
Gershwin, George
Gershwin, Ira
“Getting to Know You”
Ghostley, Alice
Gibbs, Wolcott
Gilbert and Sullivan
Girl Friend, The
Gish, Lillian
“Git Along, You Little Doggies!”
Glaenzer, Jules
Glass Menagerie, The (film)
Glenn, Frank
Goldwyn, Samuel
Gone with the Wind (film)
Gone with the Wind (Mitchell novel)
Gordon, John Steele
Gordon, Max
Gottfried, Martin
Gould, Jack
Goulet, Robert
Graham, Martha
Grahame, Gloria
Grammy Awards
“Grand Night for Singing, A”
Granger, Farley
Great Gatsby, The (Fitzgerald)
Green, Adolph
Green, Johnny
Green, Stanley
Greene, Graham
Green Grow the Lilacs (Riggs). See also Oklahoma!
Hart and
Helburn asks Rodgers to turn into musical
rights
Rodgers asks Hammerstein to collaborate on adapting
Greenstone, Al
Greenwood, Charlotte
Gregory, Sister
“Guadalcanal March”
Something Wonderful Page 42